Knitting, Blogging, Leaving: the Gerund Review

Do you recall learning about  -ing words?  It was junior high,  1945, University City (suburban St. Louis).    Once again, I was in another new school-- the 8th one in my litany of public schools.  Having always been a good reader/speller, I was thrown off by having to learn RULES for grammar.

At the same time, I was required to take Latin and discovered the gerund.   With Latin as an organizing principle, I could now put together what came naturally to me and the RULES.  Present participles, however, are more elusive.

Since I began blogging three years ago, I've moved into "slow knitting," i.e., less production.  Finally completed the chicken sweater for Zoe in Portland (large enough to last through next cold spell).  Her mom and baby sister are in the photo background; her expression a result of instruction to stand still.  It's a match for the white one made for her cousin Roxie in NYC.  Pleases me that granddaughters will have "matched" garments.

Meanwhile, yarn from Close Knit in PDX (bought on our winter visit), vest for myself, finished last month.  Just in time to store in closet.  Imagine as worn by ample female walking into Powell's in October.  Noro Kochoran wool/angora/silk, pattern is Rowan Colorscape Clunky Collection.

 Then there's the other vest.  Takhi pattern looked easy.  Did not realize the cotton yarn had to be doubled.  Photos demonstrate virtual body it has become--only one of its "issues."  Much help from Knitty City here in NYC but will not be wrapped up before we leave.

Speaking of knitting, August 5, my natal day,  began with a long coffee  klatch with Kay Gardner of the blog (and cottage industry?) Mason Dixon Knitting.  Talking with Kay is always very special:  my fantasy is that I would have been sharper and kinder (you figure that out) like her if I'd been born 20 years later, gone to law school.  And a more independent knitter.  And funnier. 

Kay along with her blog and book partner, Ann Shayne, model a way of collaborating  we could use more among women.     [photo of Ann and Kay, left, introducing second book, "Knitting Outside the Lines,"   last Fall at Knitty City.]

Fiber has been an amazing community in the 15 years back in the City.  The other day a very sweet goodbye email came from Judi Seal of the UWS Knit Circle after my message to unsubscribe from their Yahoo group.  This Upper West Side gathering at a Starbucks carried me through many ups and downs in the early years of this century.  It was my introduction to  remarkable changes in knit techniques, styles, yarn  since my previous go-around in the 1980s.  I never would have thought fiber would fulfill so many of my needs.

Then there's blogging. Many thanks to all of you who wished me well on my last post.  Knowing you're out there, open to my not-very-regular appearances has been a boost during these months of  "the selling process."  Westward there are new friends from blogging-- a meet-up with Anne Gilbert of 20th Century Woman and more encounters with Hattie of the Web.

The mover has been here to assess the project,  gave us packing/leaving dates.  We close  August 28.     "Waiting," that power-filled gerund, never my strong suite, but it's feeling within reach now. 

Comments

[m.e.]

best of luck, LRH! thanks for YOUR bloggy companionship and support. looking (a gerund!) forward to more from the left coast!!

[m.e.]

p.s. SPLENDID chicken sweaters!!!

[Anne Gibert]

I'm looking forward to meeting you soon. And I love the chicken sweaters. I should make one for my only granddaughter still a kid -- the rest are all grown.

[Hattie]

Love this. But who is the "ample woman" you refer to? Hmm...body image thing? Portland does not have so many of those social x-rays running around, though.
Anyway, I'm glad you're going to be here on the West Coast and thus closer to Hawaii.

[Duffy]

The PDX Knitbloggers are looking forward to seeing you at OFFF. We'll be on the main lawn again.